“Work is no longer a place where you go, but something you do” – Business Week The whole article is good. I continually struggle with the notion of an office outside of the house. It alway feels like so much overhead, separation, and duplication (internet, plumbing, etc). I’m wishing Best Buy the best in this …
Author Archives: Garrick van Buren
Minimum Purchases Violate Credit Card Merchant Agreements
“Always honor valid Visa cards, in your acceptance category, regardless of the dollar amount of the purchase. Imposing minimum or maximum purchase amounts is a violation.” As always, thanks go to Consumerist.com. The excuse I hear for this behavior is the credit card’s transaction costs (~3-5% of the transaction + a few pennies per transaction …
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Your Own, Personal Winecast
Tim’s giving away a pretty cool prize (his expertise just for you – for a year) for the winner of the A Menu for Hope III. There’s something else in there about using weblog technologies (RSS, etc) for one-on-one, hyper-niche conversations. I think in I need another cup of coffee to sort through it though.
Should I Be Relieved or Concerned?
While undigging from the vacation backlog, I peaked into a BaseCamp account I’m using for a handful of projects and received this message: Uh. Um. Well. Guess I’ll just toss that To Do list into the trash and head for the beach. On a related note – while going for my daily walk last Thursday …
Best Warning Sign Ever
Somewhere near a window in Beersel Castle.
5 Tips on International Travel with Toddlers
Here are a few things I thought I’d share with you on traveling internationally with toddlers. Backpacks are better than strollers.It’s far easier to get through airports, old European cities, and tour castles with Little C strapped to my back than in a terrain-sensitive stroller. As ill-fitting as our current Kelty is, I couldn’t imagine …
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Smells Like Home
We’re back in Minneapolis. Probably the least eventful trans-Atlantic journey I’ve ever taken. A couple minor hiccups leaving BRU, but nothing that slowed us down. In fact, despite sitting on the tarmac in the rain for 45 minutes on departure and 20 minutes on arrival while the jet-way wouldn’t connect, then going through customs and …
Mussels in Brussels: Friture René
Visiting Belgium and not enjoying a big pot of mussels just isn’t worth the jet lag. So, last night, Jen and I walked down the street from our hosts’ house for dinner at Friture René a small, traditional, steak, mussels, and fries place. Yes, that’s all they serve: steak and mussels. Maybe 5 or 6 …
Castelling
Our amazing and wonderful hosts took us on a roadtrip on Saturday to a couple castles just outside of Brussels Beersel – a Brusselian defensive castle from 1310. Visitors can fully explore it and on this day, the place was all ours. From the ground floor through the tight, steep, worn stone stairwell to the …
Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet
Yesterday, we celebrated St. Nicolas Day. Five kids (15 months to 7 yrs) loaded up on chocolate, gingerbread, and taai-taai while awaiting the odd, rumbling noises (well-time washing machine) indicating Sinterklaas and his mischievous helpers, the Zwarte Piet, left presents somewhere in the house. Instead of chocolate, Cooper finished off the carrot we left for …